A Mdewakanton Dakota who participated in the US-Dakota war of 1862. An alternate spelling of his name is A-e-cha-ga, meaning "To Grow Upon". He also went by the names Wicanhpikiyaya or Wican-rpi-hiyaye, meaning "Shooting Star". He was a brother of Taopi.
He was one of the Dakota warriors who was at Camp Release, near present-day Montevideo, Minn., when Gen. Henry H. Sibley spoke to them through an interpreter. He said that he only wanted to punish the Dakota who had taken part in the indiscriminate killing of white settlers, that the warriors who fought against the US Army would be treated honorably as prisoners of war. Caught in the middle of Chief Little Crow's hostile warriors on one side, and Sibley's Army on the other, the Dakota men surrendered.
Many of Little Crow's hostile warriors fled, and Sibley's detachments failed to capture them. At this point during the Dakota war, the press, politicians, and survivors were outraged by the hostile Dakotas' attacks on non-combatant civilians and wanted vengeance - giving little, if any, consideration to what caused the war in the first place. Gen. Sibley had been intensely criticized by the public and by his own soldiers for what was perceived as his slow response and poor leadership in pursuing the Dakota at the outset of the war. The public outcry now was for the Dakotas to be banished from the state or exterminated. Sibley decided he would have to make an example of the captured warriors - many of whom were friendly Indians or had not taken part in the war. Under the pretense of making the long awaited annuity payments the government owed to the Dakota, Sibley and his men were able to quietly disarm nearly 400 Dakota men. They were then put in chains. Sibley organized a military commission of five officers at Camp Release, then moved the prisoners to the Lower Sioux Agency. The military commission was a kangaroo court, with up to 40 Dakota men being tried every day, and some trials lasting less then 5 minutes. The grand jury was one man - missionary Stephen Riggs. The accused were given no legal counsel and no interpreters were provided to translate the language.
Missionary John P. Williamson was present at the trials and said:
Four hundred have been tried in less time than is generally taken in our courts with the trial of a single murderer...In many cases, a man's own testimony is the only evidence against him. He is first prejudged guilty of any charge any of the court wants to prefer against him and then, if he denies, he is cross-examined with all the ingenuity of a modern lawyer to see if he cannot be detected in some error of statement.
As a Dakota prisoner, Aicage probably did not fully understand English and what the charges and specifications were against him, which applied to all the Dakota men who were taken prisoner:
Charges: Participation in the murders, robberies and outrages committed by the Sioux Indians on the Minnesota Frontier.
Specifications: In this that the said...a Sioux Indian did between the 18th day of August 1862 and the 28th day of September 1862 join with and participate in the various Murders Robberies and outrages committed by the Sioux Tribe of Indians on the Minnesota Frontier and particularly in the battles at the Fort, New Ulm, Birch Coolie, and Wood Lake.
Most testimony against the prisoners came from Dakota or Metis men who were accusing them to try to save their own lives or accusing them based on hearsay. Aicage's trial took place on Nov. 2, 1862 at the Lower Agency. He had no legal counsel. Pay-Pay was present as a witness, but apparently did not say anything. Aicage gave the following statement:
Aicage: At the battle of the Fort, I fired 2 shots at the houses. I was at the battle of Birch Coulee. I fired once at a house.
Joseph Godfrey then testified: I saw prisoner in a house where the Indians killed an old man and 2 girls.
Aicage responded: I was there but I didn't know who shot them.
The courtroom was cleared and the military commission deliberated. Despite Godfrey's statement that he had only seen him in a house where the shooting of civilians took place, and not naming him specifically as the shooter, the commission found him guilty of the specification and charge.
The military commission tried 392 Dakota men and condemned 307 (later reduced to 303) to death, to be executed by hanging. The men were marched to Mankato, Minn. in chains, escorted by the military, and imprisoned in a stockade and warehouse at Camp Lincoln near Mankato.
The names of the men to be executed were sent by telegraph to President Lincoln, who refused to give his approval. He wanted to see the trial transcripts himself. Many credit Bishop Henry Whipple with this action. In the fall of 1862, Bishop Whipple had visited Lincoln personally, outlining for him the injustices of the Indian system, the outbreak and its causes, and the sufferings of the Dakota people. His communication was so effective and spoken with such deep conviction that Lincoln later remarked to one of his staff, "He came here the other day and talked with me about the *rascality of this Indian business till I felt it down to my boots. If we get through this war [referring to the US Civil War] and I live, this Indian system shall be reformed!"
Lincoln had three of his aides review the trial transcripts. When directed only to convict those who were guilty of rape, the aides could only come up with two names. Knowing this would never be enough to still the cries for vengeance in Minnesota, Lincoln then asked the aides to review them again, and come up with a list of the names of those convicted of killing whites (non-combatants). The aides then reduced the original 303 names on the list to 39 names. Lincoln commuted the death sentences for 264 of the Dakota men; all the men except for those whose names were on the list. One of the 39 names was Aicage's.
(c) Copyright 2009 C. K. Coffin
* "rascality of this Indian business" - Extensive government corruption associated with US Indian Policy
Sources:
Isch, John. The Dakota Trials, Including the Complete Transcripts and Explanatory Notes on the Military Commission Trials in Minnesota, 1862 - 1864, p. 345-346.
Whiting and Ruggles Report, Case No. 327. A-e-cha-ga. Convicted of participating in the murder of an old man and two girls.
He was one of the Dakota warriors who was at Camp Release, near present-day Montevideo, Minn., when Gen. Henry H. Sibley spoke to them through an interpreter. He said that he only wanted to punish the Dakota who had taken part in the indiscriminate killing of white settlers, that the warriors who fought against the US Army would be treated honorably as prisoners of war. Caught in the middle of Chief Little Crow's hostile warriors on one side, and Sibley's Army on the other, the Dakota men surrendered.
Many of Little Crow's hostile warriors fled, and Sibley's detachments failed to capture them. At this point during the Dakota war, the press, politicians, and survivors were outraged by the hostile Dakotas' attacks on non-combatant civilians and wanted vengeance - giving little, if any, consideration to what caused the war in the first place. Gen. Sibley had been intensely criticized by the public and by his own soldiers for what was perceived as his slow response and poor leadership in pursuing the Dakota at the outset of the war. The public outcry now was for the Dakotas to be banished from the state or exterminated. Sibley decided he would have to make an example of the captured warriors - many of whom were friendly Indians or had not taken part in the war. Under the pretense of making the long awaited annuity payments the government owed to the Dakota, Sibley and his men were able to quietly disarm nearly 400 Dakota men. They were then put in chains. Sibley organized a military commission of five officers at Camp Release, then moved the prisoners to the Lower Sioux Agency. The military commission was a kangaroo court, with up to 40 Dakota men being tried every day, and some trials lasting less then 5 minutes. The grand jury was one man - missionary Stephen Riggs. The accused were given no legal counsel and no interpreters were provided to translate the language.
Missionary John P. Williamson was present at the trials and said:
Four hundred have been tried in less time than is generally taken in our courts with the trial of a single murderer...In many cases, a man's own testimony is the only evidence against him. He is first prejudged guilty of any charge any of the court wants to prefer against him and then, if he denies, he is cross-examined with all the ingenuity of a modern lawyer to see if he cannot be detected in some error of statement.
As a Dakota prisoner, Aicage probably did not fully understand English and what the charges and specifications were against him, which applied to all the Dakota men who were taken prisoner:
Charges: Participation in the murders, robberies and outrages committed by the Sioux Indians on the Minnesota Frontier.
Specifications: In this that the said...a Sioux Indian did between the 18th day of August 1862 and the 28th day of September 1862 join with and participate in the various Murders Robberies and outrages committed by the Sioux Tribe of Indians on the Minnesota Frontier and particularly in the battles at the Fort, New Ulm, Birch Coolie, and Wood Lake.
Most testimony against the prisoners came from Dakota or Metis men who were accusing them to try to save their own lives or accusing them based on hearsay. Aicage's trial took place on Nov. 2, 1862 at the Lower Agency. He had no legal counsel. Pay-Pay was present as a witness, but apparently did not say anything. Aicage gave the following statement:
Aicage: At the battle of the Fort, I fired 2 shots at the houses. I was at the battle of Birch Coulee. I fired once at a house.
Joseph Godfrey then testified: I saw prisoner in a house where the Indians killed an old man and 2 girls.
Aicage responded: I was there but I didn't know who shot them.
The courtroom was cleared and the military commission deliberated. Despite Godfrey's statement that he had only seen him in a house where the shooting of civilians took place, and not naming him specifically as the shooter, the commission found him guilty of the specification and charge.
The military commission tried 392 Dakota men and condemned 307 (later reduced to 303) to death, to be executed by hanging. The men were marched to Mankato, Minn. in chains, escorted by the military, and imprisoned in a stockade and warehouse at Camp Lincoln near Mankato.
The names of the men to be executed were sent by telegraph to President Lincoln, who refused to give his approval. He wanted to see the trial transcripts himself. Many credit Bishop Henry Whipple with this action. In the fall of 1862, Bishop Whipple had visited Lincoln personally, outlining for him the injustices of the Indian system, the outbreak and its causes, and the sufferings of the Dakota people. His communication was so effective and spoken with such deep conviction that Lincoln later remarked to one of his staff, "He came here the other day and talked with me about the *rascality of this Indian business till I felt it down to my boots. If we get through this war [referring to the US Civil War] and I live, this Indian system shall be reformed!"
Lincoln had three of his aides review the trial transcripts. When directed only to convict those who were guilty of rape, the aides could only come up with two names. Knowing this would never be enough to still the cries for vengeance in Minnesota, Lincoln then asked the aides to review them again, and come up with a list of the names of those convicted of killing whites (non-combatants). The aides then reduced the original 303 names on the list to 39 names. Lincoln commuted the death sentences for 264 of the Dakota men; all the men except for those whose names were on the list. One of the 39 names was Aicage's.
(c) Copyright 2009 C. K. Coffin
* "rascality of this Indian business" - Extensive government corruption associated with US Indian Policy
Sources:
Isch, John. The Dakota Trials, Including the Complete Transcripts and Explanatory Notes on the Military Commission Trials in Minnesota, 1862 - 1864, p. 345-346.
Whiting and Ruggles Report, Case No. 327. A-e-cha-ga. Convicted of participating in the murder of an old man and two girls.
A Mdewakanton Dakota who participated in the US-Dakota war of 1862. An alternate spelling of his name is A-e-cha-ga, meaning "To Grow Upon". He also went by the names Wicanhpikiyaya or Wican-rpi-hiyaye, meaning "Shooting Star". He was a brother of Taopi.
He was one of the Dakota warriors who was at Camp Release, near present-day Montevideo, Minn., when Gen. Henry H. Sibley spoke to them through an interpreter. He said that he only wanted to punish the Dakota who had taken part in the indiscriminate killing of white settlers, that the warriors who fought against the US Army would be treated honorably as prisoners of war. Caught in the middle of Chief Little Crow's hostile warriors on one side, and Sibley's Army on the other, the Dakota men surrendered.
Many of Little Crow's hostile warriors fled, and Sibley's detachments failed to capture them. At this point during the Dakota war, the press, politicians, and survivors were outraged by the hostile Dakotas' attacks on non-combatant civilians and wanted vengeance - giving little, if any, consideration to what caused the war in the first place. Gen. Sibley had been intensely criticized by the public and by his own soldiers for what was perceived as his slow response and poor leadership in pursuing the Dakota at the outset of the war. The public outcry now was for the Dakotas to be banished from the state or exterminated. Sibley decided he would have to make an example of the captured warriors - many of whom were friendly Indians or had not taken part in the war. Under the pretense of making the long awaited annuity payments the government owed to the Dakota, Sibley and his men were able to quietly disarm nearly 400 Dakota men. They were then put in chains. Sibley organized a military commission of five officers at Camp Release, then moved the prisoners to the Lower Sioux Agency. The military commission was a kangaroo court, with up to 40 Dakota men being tried every day, and some trials lasting less then 5 minutes. The grand jury was one man - missionary Stephen Riggs. The accused were given no legal counsel and no interpreters were provided to translate the language.
Missionary John P. Williamson was present at the trials and said:
Four hundred have been tried in less time than is generally taken in our courts with the trial of a single murderer...In many cases, a man's own testimony is the only evidence against him. He is first prejudged guilty of any charge any of the court wants to prefer against him and then, if he denies, he is cross-examined with all the ingenuity of a modern lawyer to see if he cannot be detected in some error of statement.
As a Dakota prisoner, Aicage probably did not fully understand English and what the charges and specifications were against him, which applied to all the Dakota men who were taken prisoner:
Charges: Participation in the murders, robberies and outrages committed by the Sioux Indians on the Minnesota Frontier.
Specifications: In this that the said...a Sioux Indian did between the 18th day of August 1862 and the 28th day of September 1862 join with and participate in the various Murders Robberies and outrages committed by the Sioux Tribe of Indians on the Minnesota Frontier and particularly in the battles at the Fort, New Ulm, Birch Coolie, and Wood Lake.
Most testimony against the prisoners came from Dakota or Metis men who were accusing them to try to save their own lives or accusing them based on hearsay. Aicage's trial took place on Nov. 2, 1862 at the Lower Agency. He had no legal counsel. Pay-Pay was present as a witness, but apparently did not say anything. Aicage gave the following statement:
Aicage: At the battle of the Fort, I fired 2 shots at the houses. I was at the battle of Birch Coulee. I fired once at a house.
Joseph Godfrey then testified: I saw prisoner in a house where the Indians killed an old man and 2 girls.
Aicage responded: I was there but I didn't know who shot them.
The courtroom was cleared and the military commission deliberated. Despite Godfrey's statement that he had only seen him in a house where the shooting of civilians took place, and not naming him specifically as the shooter, the commission found him guilty of the specification and charge.
The military commission tried 392 Dakota men and condemned 307 (later reduced to 303) to death, to be executed by hanging. The men were marched to Mankato, Minn. in chains, escorted by the military, and imprisoned in a stockade and warehouse at Camp Lincoln near Mankato.
The names of the men to be executed were sent by telegraph to President Lincoln, who refused to give his approval. He wanted to see the trial transcripts himself. Many credit Bishop Henry Whipple with this action. In the fall of 1862, Bishop Whipple had visited Lincoln personally, outlining for him the injustices of the Indian system, the outbreak and its causes, and the sufferings of the Dakota people. His communication was so effective and spoken with such deep conviction that Lincoln later remarked to one of his staff, "He came here the other day and talked with me about the *rascality of this Indian business till I felt it down to my boots. If we get through this war [referring to the US Civil War] and I live, this Indian system shall be reformed!"
Lincoln had three of his aides review the trial transcripts. When directed only to convict those who were guilty of rape, the aides could only come up with two names. Knowing this would never be enough to still the cries for vengeance in Minnesota, Lincoln then asked the aides to review them again, and come up with a list of the names of those convicted of killing whites (non-combatants). The aides then reduced the original 303 names on the list to 39 names. Lincoln commuted the death sentences for 264 of the Dakota men; all the men except for those whose names were on the list. One of the 39 names was Aicage's.
(c) Copyright 2009 C. K. Coffin
* "rascality of this Indian business" - Extensive government corruption associated with US Indian Policy
Sources:
Isch, John. The Dakota Trials, Including the Complete Transcripts and Explanatory Notes on the Military Commission Trials in Minnesota, 1862 - 1864, p. 345-346.
Whiting and Ruggles Report, Case No. 327. A-e-cha-ga. Convicted of participating in the murder of an old man and two girls.
He was one of the Dakota warriors who was at Camp Release, near present-day Montevideo, Minn., when Gen. Henry H. Sibley spoke to them through an interpreter. He said that he only wanted to punish the Dakota who had taken part in the indiscriminate killing of white settlers, that the warriors who fought against the US Army would be treated honorably as prisoners of war. Caught in the middle of Chief Little Crow's hostile warriors on one side, and Sibley's Army on the other, the Dakota men surrendered.
Many of Little Crow's hostile warriors fled, and Sibley's detachments failed to capture them. At this point during the Dakota war, the press, politicians, and survivors were outraged by the hostile Dakotas' attacks on non-combatant civilians and wanted vengeance - giving little, if any, consideration to what caused the war in the first place. Gen. Sibley had been intensely criticized by the public and by his own soldiers for what was perceived as his slow response and poor leadership in pursuing the Dakota at the outset of the war. The public outcry now was for the Dakotas to be banished from the state or exterminated. Sibley decided he would have to make an example of the captured warriors - many of whom were friendly Indians or had not taken part in the war. Under the pretense of making the long awaited annuity payments the government owed to the Dakota, Sibley and his men were able to quietly disarm nearly 400 Dakota men. They were then put in chains. Sibley organized a military commission of five officers at Camp Release, then moved the prisoners to the Lower Sioux Agency. The military commission was a kangaroo court, with up to 40 Dakota men being tried every day, and some trials lasting less then 5 minutes. The grand jury was one man - missionary Stephen Riggs. The accused were given no legal counsel and no interpreters were provided to translate the language.
Missionary John P. Williamson was present at the trials and said:
Four hundred have been tried in less time than is generally taken in our courts with the trial of a single murderer...In many cases, a man's own testimony is the only evidence against him. He is first prejudged guilty of any charge any of the court wants to prefer against him and then, if he denies, he is cross-examined with all the ingenuity of a modern lawyer to see if he cannot be detected in some error of statement.
As a Dakota prisoner, Aicage probably did not fully understand English and what the charges and specifications were against him, which applied to all the Dakota men who were taken prisoner:
Charges: Participation in the murders, robberies and outrages committed by the Sioux Indians on the Minnesota Frontier.
Specifications: In this that the said...a Sioux Indian did between the 18th day of August 1862 and the 28th day of September 1862 join with and participate in the various Murders Robberies and outrages committed by the Sioux Tribe of Indians on the Minnesota Frontier and particularly in the battles at the Fort, New Ulm, Birch Coolie, and Wood Lake.
Most testimony against the prisoners came from Dakota or Metis men who were accusing them to try to save their own lives or accusing them based on hearsay. Aicage's trial took place on Nov. 2, 1862 at the Lower Agency. He had no legal counsel. Pay-Pay was present as a witness, but apparently did not say anything. Aicage gave the following statement:
Aicage: At the battle of the Fort, I fired 2 shots at the houses. I was at the battle of Birch Coulee. I fired once at a house.
Joseph Godfrey then testified: I saw prisoner in a house where the Indians killed an old man and 2 girls.
Aicage responded: I was there but I didn't know who shot them.
The courtroom was cleared and the military commission deliberated. Despite Godfrey's statement that he had only seen him in a house where the shooting of civilians took place, and not naming him specifically as the shooter, the commission found him guilty of the specification and charge.
The military commission tried 392 Dakota men and condemned 307 (later reduced to 303) to death, to be executed by hanging. The men were marched to Mankato, Minn. in chains, escorted by the military, and imprisoned in a stockade and warehouse at Camp Lincoln near Mankato.
The names of the men to be executed were sent by telegraph to President Lincoln, who refused to give his approval. He wanted to see the trial transcripts himself. Many credit Bishop Henry Whipple with this action. In the fall of 1862, Bishop Whipple had visited Lincoln personally, outlining for him the injustices of the Indian system, the outbreak and its causes, and the sufferings of the Dakota people. His communication was so effective and spoken with such deep conviction that Lincoln later remarked to one of his staff, "He came here the other day and talked with me about the *rascality of this Indian business till I felt it down to my boots. If we get through this war [referring to the US Civil War] and I live, this Indian system shall be reformed!"
Lincoln had three of his aides review the trial transcripts. When directed only to convict those who were guilty of rape, the aides could only come up with two names. Knowing this would never be enough to still the cries for vengeance in Minnesota, Lincoln then asked the aides to review them again, and come up with a list of the names of those convicted of killing whites (non-combatants). The aides then reduced the original 303 names on the list to 39 names. Lincoln commuted the death sentences for 264 of the Dakota men; all the men except for those whose names were on the list. One of the 39 names was Aicage's.
(c) Copyright 2009 C. K. Coffin
* "rascality of this Indian business" - Extensive government corruption associated with US Indian Policy
Sources:
Isch, John. The Dakota Trials, Including the Complete Transcripts and Explanatory Notes on the Military Commission Trials in Minnesota, 1862 - 1864, p. 345-346.
Whiting and Ruggles Report, Case No. 327. A-e-cha-ga. Convicted of participating in the murder of an old man and two girls.
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See more A i cage or To Grow Upon memorials in:
- Dakota Sioux Memorial - 1862 A i cage or To Grow Upon
- Mankato A i cage or To Grow Upon
- Blue Earth County A i cage or To Grow Upon
- Minnesota A i cage or To Grow Upon
- USA A i cage or To Grow Upon
- Find a Grave A i cage or To Grow Upon
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